


Coming Out

by SophieRipley



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: 3+1 fic, F/M, Fluff, Mystery, One Shot, Secrets, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 22:25:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9348995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SophieRipley/pseuds/SophieRipley
Summary: Over the course of her relationship with Nick, Judy notices some odd discrepancies that make her think, starting with a picture in Mrs. Wilde's apartment.  Though she puts it out of mind, it keeps cropping up.ORThree times Judy Hopps becomes suspicious, and one time Nick Wilde comes clean.





	

** 1:  Judy Meets The Mother **

 Judy had been dating Nick for a month when Nick asked her to meet his mother.  He told her his mom had been wanting to meet her since they started dating, and she finally wore him down.  So it was that a lunch date at the vixen’s apartment was arranged.  Judy arrived precisely at one in the afternoon wearing a pair of jeans and a grey ZPD tee shirt.

Nick answered the door of the apartment, on the second floor of a mostly-predator building in the neighborhood Tranquility Lane, wearing a pair of jeans and a plain black tee.

“Afternoon, Carrots,” said Nick with a smile as he stepped back to allow her to enter.  “Right on time, come in.”

“You know I like punctuality.”  Judy entered the apartment.  It was small, by fox standards, and consequently had a bit of a cluttered appearance.  The living room held a grey couch, an armchair, a black coffee table, and a small entertainment system with a somewhat outdated television.  The walls were wallpapered with a light green floral print paper.  “Nice place.  You said you grew up here, right?”

“Yes, he absolutely did,” said a female voice from the kitchen, off the living room.  A moment later, an older vixen came into the room wiping her paws on a paw towel.  “He was born in the bigger bedroom, in fact.  I’m Ciara.”

“Judy.”  She shook the offered paw, noting the vixen’s firm grip.  She was pretty, her markings similar to her son’s, though with blue eyes.

“Judy Hopps, Officer of the ZPD, yes, I know.”  Ciara crossed her arms.  “You’re the one who made our lives very difficult a year and a half ago when you slandered predators.”  Judy’s stomach sank.

Nick looked, somewhat alarmed, between them.  “Mom, that was—“

“Be quiet, Nicky,” said Ciara softly, still looking intently at Judy. 

Judy refused to look away from the vixen’s eyes, but her face clearly showed her regret.

“Yes,” said Judy firmly, “that Judy Hopps.  I made a mistake—a bad one—that day, one I’ve paid for.  A mistake I’ve gone on record admitting to and apologizing for.  If the only reason you asked to meet me was to berate me about one mistake I made more than a year ago, I don’t see a point in staying.”

“You paid for it?  How?  By going on holiday for three months?”

“While bringing Bellwether in, I suffered an injury.”  Judy knelt and pulled her right pant leg up, exposing the thin channel in her fur where could be seen a six inch long scar.  “Thirty-one stitches, I lost an entire unit of blood, and I couldn’t walk for three weeks.”  Then she stood and pushed up the sleeve of her shirt on the left arm, showing a row of four lines.

“A kit fox attacked me in the street the day I was back on the force after medical leave.”  She looked back at Ciara, who’s expression had gone neutral.  “I suffered a dozen other minor injuries from attacks in the street, not to mention a black mark on my permanent ZPD record and the hundreds— _hundreds_ of letters of hate mail I received just in the time I was out of town.”

Judy turned to leave, but stopped at the door and looked over her shoulder.  “And it was two and a half months of mental health issues, not a three month vacation.”

“Wait.”  Ciara smiled ruefully.  “I’m sorry.  I had to be sure.  When Nicky told me that you two made up, I was appalled.  I was ready to condemn you for it, but he gave me a list of reasons why you were a good mammal.  You’re dating my child, Judy, I had to be sure those reasons were true.”

Judy frowned, unsure, and looked at Nick, whose head was in one paw.  “Okay.  I suppose I can understand wanting to protect your only son.”

Ciara’s eyes flitted to Nick briefly, then she clasped her paws together.  “So I’ve made some veggie wraps, I understand you’re a fan of spinach.”

The lunch began tense, but the strain quickly dissipated as the three of them fell into conversation between bites of food.  Ciara proved to be quite knowledgeable about farming, though it was clear she’d never done it herself, and she and Judy spent a good portion of the meal discussing the various requirements to grow the ingredients in their wraps.  And the food, Judy had to admit, was pretty good as well.

Finally it was three in the afternoon, the food was gone, and Ciara stood with an expression of apology.  “I need to step away for a few minutes, just leave the plates there and I’ll be back out shortly.”  She bustled off down the hall.

Nick stood, gathered the plates, put them in the sink, then wandered into the living room.  Judy followed.  While Nick, however, moved toward the couch, Judy went to the entertainment center.  She noticed a framed picture, and picked it up to look at it.  It was Ciara Wilde looking much younger, sitting on the very same armchair in the room with them.  On her lap with a wide happy grin was a young vixen of maybe six years old, wearing a pretty green sundress that matched her eyes.

“Mom still has that dress,” said Nick over Judy’s shoulder, making her jump.

“I didn’t know you had a sister.”  Judy looked up at him.  He gently pulled the picture from her paws and smiled, looking at it.

“This is my favorite picture of mom.  She looked happy.”  He placed it carefully back on the shelf as Ciara came into the room again.

“Sorry about that, had to take my afternoon medication.”  She came up behind them.  “Are you showing off my picture?  You know, I still have that dress.  If you ever hurry up and get me some grandkits I might give it to you to pass on.”

“Yeah, Mom, I know,” sighed Nick, turning to sit down on the couch.  “We’ve been dating for a month, _children_ haven’t come up yet.”

Judy snorted.  “Well, rabbits _are_ good at multiplying.  I was sure it’d come up eventually.”  The conversation continued naturally from there, and Judy’s niggling suspicion something was being hidden from her was put out of mind.

 

** 2:  Judy Finds An Award **

Four months after meeting Nick’s mother, Judy went to Nick’s apartment in the Rainforest District after work.  She’d been over before to drop him off or pick him up, but had never been inside.  There was no real reason for this, circumstance and negligence simply led her to never enter the premises.  Today, however, was Friday, and Judy wanted to have a start-of-weekend movie marathon.  As Nick had a DVD player and she did not, it fell to him to host the event.

“I don’t see why it’s so important to see these movies, Carrots,” said Nick as he unlocked his door.

“That’s because you’ve never seen them.”  Judy bounced a little in place, a collection of DVD’s in paw.  “I’m telling you, Lord of the Rings is definitely worth watching.  We’ll be watching the other trilogy too, just to complete the package, but they’re not as good.”

“Yeah yeah, if you say so.”  Nick opened the door and they entered.  It was, as apartments go, not bad.  The place was a bit dingy, perhaps a bit damp, but it was very clean and decorated sparsely.  The glass coffee table went well with Nick’s green couch, and there was a narrow shelf along one wall upon which there were a few knick knacks. 

Nick took the videos from her and went to the television stand to put the first one in, and Judy looked around as she went to the couch to sit.

“Where are the violets?”

“Hmm?”

“The violets I gave you last week.  I don’t see them in here.”

“Oh.”  Nick, having gotten the DVD in, crossed the room and handed Judy the remote, then went toward the kitchen.  “They’re in the bathroom, they get better light there.  I’m getting some popcorn.  Want a beer?”

“Mmm, no thanks.  A water would be nice.”

Nick snorted.  “One day, Fluff, I’ll get you to drink.  And it will be epic.”

“There will be a day when the hearts of rabbits fail,” retorted Judy, “but it is not this day!”

Nick’s laugh faded as he entered the kitchen.  A moment later the sound of the microwave started as he heated up the popcorn and Judy spent a moment getting the video set up.

“How long have you been living here?” called Judy as she stood to snoop around a little.

“Uhh…sixteen years next month.  My original landlord was a business partner for awhile.”

“You should upgrade.  I know you can afford a better place, because I can afford a better place.”  She picked up one of the items on his shelf:  it was an old Nokia cell phone.  Likely, Judy reasoned, used in his first successful job, which would explain why he’d kept it.  Nick was sentimental like that.

“So should you,” retorted Nick from the kitchen, “you still live in a closet.”

“Har har.”  Judy put the phone down and picked up the next item:  a delicately painted tanuki teapot with floral motif.  If it ever had cups accompanying it they were now gone, and Judy had no idea whatsoever what the teapot may have meant to Nick.  She placed it gently back in place.

The next item was a pair of glasses.  They were square-framed no-nonsense horn rims, the lenses scratched and smudged, with canine-style arms.  She smiled a little imagining Nick wearing them; in her professional opinion he would probably look sexy with glasses.  Likely he wore these pretending to be a doctor or professor in some con, and kept them in remembrance of the success of the job, or maybe to remember someone he met during it.

Finally, Judy found an award.  It was a pretty typical track award, first place in the four hundred meter dash.  The brass plaque said _Nikki “Fleetfoot” Wilde_.

Judy grinned and put the award back when a cold bottle was pressed to her neck.  She took the bottle from Nick, who bore a bowl of popcorn and a beer, and went to the couch where she flopped down.

“Track and field, huh?”  She cracked open the water and took a swig of it.

Nick nodded.  “Yep.  That’s where I met Flash, believe it or not.”

“Flash…the sloth?” asked Judy incredulously.

“That’s right.”  Nick opened his beer and took a drink of it.  “Sloths can be quite fast in the right circumstances.”

“Hmm.  I’m surprised you kept the award, though.  They spelled your name wrong.  That spelling is feminine.”

Nick raised an eyebrow at her.  “Bit sexist of you, don’t you think?  Don’t you have a nephew named Hillary?”

“…point taken.”  Judy rolled her eyes.  

“Yes it is.  Now play this movie that’s so amazing.  I’m waiting to be wowed.”

Judy mentally shook herself as she pressed the play button.  It was a minor discrepancy, and Nick was right:  she did have more than one niece or nephew with gender-inappropriate names.  She put it out of mind.

 

** 3:  Judy Finds Some Odd Medication **

It was two months after the movie marathon when Judy found herself at Nick’s apartment again late, working on a case.  They had been told to go home and drop it for the night, but the pair decided en route that they weren’t going to be able to put it down.

As such, they’d spent nearly six hours of their Friday evening talking in circles and posing increasingly unlikely hypotheses for how the suspect managed to get into the victim’s fifth story apartment in broad daylight without getting in the door or being seen.  Judy was beginning to get a headache, so when Nick took a break to make some tea Judy gave up.

“This is screwed, Nick,” said Judy, rubbing her temples.  “I’m done.  I have a headache.  Do you have any aspirin?”

“Sure,” said Nick absently, pulling out a tin of tea.  “Bathroom, in the medicine cabinet.  You want some tea?  I have that Earl Grey you like.”

“Yeah, please?  Make it hot.”  She stood and walked down the hall to the bathroom and when she got there she leaned on the porcelain sink and sighed at her reflection.  The potted violets on the shelf above the toilet cheerfully twitched in the air currents from the air conditioning, making her smile.

She’d given Nick the violets as a birthday gift, and he’d loved them.  Immediately upon being given the flowers he’d interrogated Judy about the best way to care for them, and he’d done a good job since.  They didn’t really fit the lime green color of the bathroom in general, but they were healthy and well cared for.

Unfortunately the pleasant scent of the flowers did nothing for Judy’s headache.  She opened the medicine cabinet, spotted the bottle of aspirin very easily, and took the bottle out of the cabinet.  As Judy shook one of the fox-dose pills out of the bottle and into her paw, her eyes laid on a peculiar item in the cabinet.  She popped the pill in her mouth, swallowed it with a bit of water from the tap, and put the aspirin back, then lifted the little plastic disk off the bottom shelf.

It was a pastel colored plastic pill case, and when she popped it open she recognized it as a type of birth control.  It was long out of date, had an expiration date some fifteen years ago, but had been kept for some reason.  Perhaps it had belonged to Nick’s sister.  He never spoke of her, so something must have happened to her, and he kept her pills…for remembrance?  Judy frowned.  It didn’t make sense.  She knew Nick tended to keep items she never would, like that red kerchief from when he tried to join the Junior Ranger Scouts.  Perhaps an ex girlfriend left this here and he simply never got around to tossing it out?

She had no answers.  Instead of dwelling on it, Judy closed the bathroom door, used the toilet, then washed her paws and went back to the kitchen where files were strewn across the table.  She sat down, and took the tea Nick offered her, sipping it before setting it down.

She was only looking at the files for a couple moments when she realized she kept thinking back to the birth control pills.  Judy shook her head and pushed the file away.

“I can’t focus anymore, Nick.  I’m done.”  She looked at her phone and groaned.  “And it’s nearly one in the morning.  I need to go home.”

Nick shook his head.  “Don’t bother.  My couch is very comfortable, you can sleep here tonight.”

Judy nodded and sipped her tea.  She was exhausted, and was more than grateful for the offer.  Judging from how droopy Nick’s ears and tail were, he was likely more tired than her, and his lack of protest about giving up for the night showed how ready he was to go to sleep.

It wouldn’t be until morning when Judy thought to wonder why Nick didn’t offer to let her sleep with him in his room, but she didn’t bring it up with him.  They’d been dating for months, but Nick kept their forays into physical intimacy tentative and slow-going.  To date they’d never done more than make out, so Judy put it out of mind.

 

** And 1:  Nick Comes Clean **

Another two months passed.  It was now winter, and Judy was on a mission.  She’d invited Nick over to her new apartment, telling him she wanted to talk to him about something important.  She spent the morning leading up to his arrival pacing her apartment and second-guessing herself, but she managed to avoid talking herself out of it.

Finally, it was just after noon and a knock came at her door.  Judy went to the door and answered it, finding Nick waiting for her in casual clothes.  He looked frightened, poor thing, but she couldn’t blame him.  He probably thought she was about to leave him.  The fox did tend to be prone to anxiety sometimes.

“Hey Nick, come in.”  She let him in, then closed the door behind him and led him to the kitchen table.  “Have a seat.  Water?”

Nick nodded and sat, and she pulled a bottle of water from the refrigerator.  She handed it to him and sat across from him.

“Nice place,” he said.  “Sorry I couldn’t be here when you moved in last week.”

Judy shook her head.  “You were working, I’m not worried about it.  If you were free, you’d have been here.”

Nick’s look of relief was as pronounced as his new look of confusion.  “So, you said we needed to discuss something…?”

Judy nodded.  Then she placed a silk bag on the table between them and pushed it toward him.  Nick hesitantly took it, and with her encouragement opened it, drawing from it a lavender cylindrical object.  He furrowed his brow in further confusion.

“I-I don’t…what is this?”

“It’s a personal massager, Nick.”  She rolled her eyes when he blinked at her.  “A vibrator.”

His ears flushed red.  “I know _that_ , fluff.  I’ve seen them before.  Why are you showing me your…this?”

Judy clasped her paws on the table in front of her.  “We’ve been dating for nine months, Nick.”

“Nine months and one week, yes.  So?”

“So, it’s winter.”

Nick took a breath and looked carefully neutral.  “So it is…what’s your point?”

“Fox mating season started two weeks ago, sweetie.”  Judy kept her voice calm and neutral.

Nick looked away.  “What’s your _point_?  Tods don’t experience heat cycles.”

“But,” said Judy, exasperation leaking into her voice, “they do experience increased libido, Nick.  We’ve dated for _nine months_ , and not once have you gone farther than kissing me.  Not once have you shown any interest in taking this further.  I assumed that it would change in winter and then after mating season it wouldn’t take much to keep you interested, but it didn’t change. 

“ _That,_ ” said Judy, indicating the device in front of Nick on the table, “is how I’ve been getting by.  But I want more than that.  If you _can’t_ , if you’re asexual or something, that’s fine.  Just _tell_ me, so that we can figure this out.”

Nick didn’t meet her eyes.  “I’m not ace.”

“Then what?  Do you have someone else?”

His paws clenched into fists.  “I’m not _cheating on you_.”

Judy spread her arms before her.  “Then what, Nick?  You’re not going to hurt me, I’m not afraid of you, you _know_ I want it….”  She trailed off for a moment and Nick remained silent.  “Please.  I just want to understand.”

Nick sighed.  Then he pulled out his wallet, opened it, and drew from it a square of paper, which he passed to Judy.  Judy took it and looked, seeing a wallet sized copy of the picture in his mom’s house.

“Your mom and your sister.  I don’t get it.”  She looked up at him, to find him gazing steadily at her.  She could see in his eyes fear, anxiety, and resolve.

“I don’t have a sister, Judy.”

“Then what….”

Nick shook his head.  “That picture is a picture of Ciara Wilde and her daughter, Nicole Wilde.  My mother and me.  My birth name is Nicole, not Nicholas.  I started passing as male when I was eight, and I began medically and legally transitioning when I turned eighteen.”

Judy stared at him, mouth open.  Suddenly everything made sense.  “Oh,” she said simply.

Nick looked away.  “I haven’t been intimate with you because I don’t have the equipment you want, and I didn’t know how to…I mean, I wasn’t sure what would happen when I told you.  I didn’t want to lose this, Judy.”  He put his head in his paws, arms propped on the table, and sighed.

Judy reached across the table and put a paw gently on his arm.  “Nick…sweetheart…I’m pansexual.  I don’t _care_ what ‘equipment’ you have.  All I care about is that it’s you I’m with.”

Nick slowly looked up, his eyes shining.  “T-this doesn’t…change anything?”

“Not really.”  Judy pulled his arm down and took his paw.  She shook her head and chuckled.  “I really should have figured it out though, my sister Susan is a trans girl.  Look, you don’t have to worry about me not liking this.  I love _you_ , Nick.  I always have, and I always will.”

“This changes most people’s perceptions.”

Judy snorted.  “Since when have I ever been most people?  Nick, you’re the same fox you were yesterday.  I’m not going to let a little solved mystery make me forget that.”

Nick nodded, and squeezed her paw.  “Good.  Thanks for this, Carrots.  I…to be honest, I’m tired of using personal massagers myself.  This cycle has been _killing_ me.”

Judy smiled wide, stood, and kissed Nick.  “Well, you should have just asked.  Dumb fox.”  When she pulled her boyfriend to the bedroom, he didn’t resist.

**Author's Note:**

> So that was written....I've had that in my head for awhile now and I finally got the courage to write it. I'd like to dedicate this to all the trans folks out there whose coming out stories don't end this peacefully. You guys deserve better. Don't forget to comment, and I hope you enjoy the read.


End file.
